The Speaker's Attention (First Update, Happy New Year!)

Blackflow Port took its name from Blackflow Stone, a rock-forming mineral of Terra. Resembling biotite in appearance, it was a silicate mixture of Origin Matter metals such as Patterned Iron and Lightglow Aluminum. Because it was insulating, heat-resistant, and resistant to Origin Matter permeation, it had a wide range of applications and served as an important coating material for many alchemical devices.

Beyond that, Blackflow Stone was also found alongside Translucent Crystal Sand, the most important raw material for alchemical gunpowder, and even other, rarer sublimation metals.

Blackflow Port had experienced two periods of prosperity and one decline. Its first boom was naturally during the mining era, when the Canaanmore Federation Mining Bureau, together with mining companies large and small, hollowed out the entirety of Blackedge Mountain. That coastal peak had been excavated clean through, leaving behind a massive triangular terraced pit in the earth, like an Abyss leading straight underground. Immeasurable wealth and resources were shipped from here to every corner of Canaanmore, then sold across the world by sea.

At the time, many towns surrounded Blackflow Port. Vast numbers of mining workers formed the foundation of the cities here, drawing countless merchants and service workers and creating Canaanmore's largest southern coastal urban cluster—but good times did not last. As the mineral veins around Blackflow Port were gradually exhausted, the cities declined with them. People scattered, desolation followed, and many towns became ghost cities.

The decline lasted for decades, until Canaanmore drew upon the Empire's experience in transforming the Atlan Megacity Labyrinth. The remaining mine pits were flooded with seawater and thoroughly remade into an artificial marine Magic Beast breeding ground.

The Siren was slowly docking in this newly prosperous port. Bright sunlight shone down, and pale blue seawater lapped against the embankment.

Not far away, the artificial lake